Large ISPs like Verizon and Comcast have an...

Large ISPs like Verizon and Comcast have an incentive to steer their broadband subscribers toward their own on-demand services, and away from unaffiliated providers like Netflix or YouTube, Cogent CEO Dave Schaeffer told FCC acting General Counsel Jon Sallet and Senior Counselor Philip Verveer Friday, an ex parte filing said (http://bit.ly/1jZT4Ql). Those ISPs are “refusing to upgrade their network connections with companies like Cogent,” leading to “a degraded quality of service to end-users,” Schaeffer said. Schaeffer emphasized Cogent’s belief that broadband Internet should be reclassified as a Title II telecom service, including the common carrier obligations that accompany such a classification. “If the Commission opts not to reclassify at this time,” Cogent’s filed comments “offer ways to enhance the current transparency rule and to identify and remedy network congestion,” Schaeffer said. An FCC spokesman said Tuesday the agency would not consider regulating peering or interconnection agreements as part of its upcoming net neutrality redo (CD April 2 p2).